Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) vs Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) (poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free) vs Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash (google/gemini-3.8-flash). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) (poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash (google/gemini-3.8-flash) — Google AI Startup Credits ($350K) & 50% Cache Promo
Google DeepMind is currently subsidizing Gemini 4 Argon at 50% off standard rates ($2.00/1M input & $10.00/1M output instead of $4/$20) until November 30, 2026, alongside 95% off Context Caching ($0.10/1M) and up to $350,000 in Google for Startups Cloud/Vertex AI credits.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) (API ID: poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free) vs Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash (API ID: google/gemini-3.8-flash), Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) offers lower standard input pricing at $0/1M tokens ($0/1M output), while Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) leads in cached prefix economics at $0/1M tokens (50% discount). Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | poolside/laguna-xs-2.1:free | google/gemini-3.8-flash | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0 / $0 | $0.75 / $3.75 | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0/1M (50% Off) | $0.375/1M (50% Off) | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) |
| Context Window / Max Output | 256K In / 32K Out | 1024K In / 64K Out | Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) (-0ms) |
Laguna XS 2.1 is the latest coding agent model in the 33B-A3B category from [Poolside](https://poolside.ai/) and a step forward from their Laguna XS.2 model (released in April 2026
Gemini 3.8 Flash is Google's most intelligent Flash model with significant gains from 3.7 Flash across software engineering, agentic tasks, and multi-step reasoning.
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) to Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash
Gemini 3.8 Flash is Google's most intelligent Flash model with significant gains from 3.7 Flash across software engineering, agentic tasks, and multi-step reasoning. Verified P90 latency of 280ms.